House



(No Model.)

W. R. HONEY.

'GRATE.

No. 473,963. Patented May a, 1892.

M, In

I I ///////6I////////////////////////////IV/ Z !///////////4///Iu7///////////////////// re-mum, WASNINGTO UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IVILLIAM R. RONEY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WVESTING- HOUSE, CHURCH, KERR do COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

GRATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 473,963, dated May 3, 1892.

Application filed Tune 30, 1891. Serial No. 398,019. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM R. RONEY, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grates; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

'lhisinvention relates to f urnace-grates and more especially to that class of inclined grates consisting of a series of horizontal transversely-arranged grate-bars having flat top surfaces to receive the fuel and depending Webs or flanges for giving stiffness to the bars-such, for instance, as are shown in. a prior patent, No. 409,304, granted to me August 20, 1889.

Inapriorapplication, SerialNo. 356,340, filed June 23, 1890, by myself and John T. Arnold, is shown and described a construction in grates of the character referred to by which the depending flanges of the bars are provided with longitudinal slots arranged opposite or in line with the horizontal openings or spaces between the bars, so that a slicing-bar or other suitable implement may beinserted from the front of the grate through said slots and between the grate-bars for the purpose of stoking or stirring the mass of coal upon the grate.

The present invention embraces an improved construction by which the upper parts of the bars are inclined and provided with longitudinal apertures extending longitudinally through the inclined top or supporting faces thereof to the rear or outer surfaces, and in which the longitudinal slots in the depending flanges, instead of being arranged opposite the spaces between the bars, are arranged opposite the said slots or longitudinal apertures in the upper parts of the bars. By this construction a slicing-bar or other sultably-shaped tool may be inserted from the front of the grate through the slots in the depending flanges and also through the slots or openings in the upper parts of the bars for the purpose of stoking or stirring the fire and at the same time of removing any adherent clinkers or masses of fuel which may attach themselves to the surfaces of the bars.

The grate-bars shown in said prior patent, No. 409,304, are rocking grate-bars, and automatic feed devicesare shown in said patent for continually moving or actuating the same, so as to produceapractically-continuous feed of the fuel downwardly along the inclined surface of the grate. A grate provided with bars made as herein set forth may be employed with advantage when such actuating devices are used, inasmuch as it may often be found desirable to insert through the bars a slicing-bar or other tool to loosen or remove the clinkers or masses of the latter which accumulate on the grate even when a rocking motion of the grate-bars is relied upon for feeding the fuel downwardly along the surface of the grate. A grate embracing the improvements herein described may,however, be used with advantage in a stationary or non-rocking grate, it obviously being practicable, especially in the case of small grates, to properly feed the fuel downwardly along or over the inclined grate by agitating the fuel by the use of a hand-tool inserted through the slots or openings provided for the purpose. may not be found necessary to use grate-bars constructed in accordance with the present improvement throughout the entire length of the grateas, for instance, owing to the fact that the clinkers are more likely to accumulate where the fire is hottest-to wit, at the lower part of the inclined grate-the gratebars constructed in accordance with the present invention may be employed at the lower part of the grate and grate-bars of other construction-such, for instance, as those shown in said prior application, Serial N 0. 356,340- may be employed in the other part of the grate, and a construction of this kind is illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, Figure 1 is a central vertical section of a furnace-grate constructed in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a detail cross-section of the same, taken upon line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the grate-bar shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view corresponding with Fig 1 and illustrating a modification. Fig. 5 is a similar detail sectional view showing the lower In many cases, however, it

the rear of the inclined grate O, and E a rod for operating said dumping-grate.

The grate 0 herein illustrated is composed of two sets of transverse horizontally-arranged grate-bars, the set 0 c c, forming the lower part of the grate, being constructed in accordance with my present improvement, while the set 0 c c, at the upper part of the grate, is constructed in the same manner as the bars illustrated in said prior application, Serial No. 356,340. All of the gratebars belonging to both sets are provided at their ends with bearings or trunnions 0 0 which rest in notches fff in-the upper edges of stationary inclined supporting-bars F F, which are secured against the opposite side walls of the furnace. All of said grate-bars,furthermore, are provided with depending webs or flanges 0 a acting to give stiffness to the bars, and with top surfaces on which the fuel rests, the front and rear edges of the bars being continuous or non-fingered, while the bars are arranged in a stepped position, so that the rear. edge of one bar is adjacent to but somewhat distant from the edge of a subjacent bar, vertical spaces being thus provided hetweenthe adjacent edges of the bars to allow the necessary openings for the influx of air.

In the particular construction illustrated the grate-bars are hung in such a manner as to enable them to be rocked or oscillated in the manner set forth in said prior patent, No. 409,304, and for this purpose are provided with depending arms 0 c, which engage with notches g in a reciprocating rod or bar G, which bar is adapted for endwise movement in a manner to rock the grate-bars in their bearings on the supporting-bars F. An actuating-rod G is attached to the bar G, and serves as-a means of communicating motion to said bar G from an external actuating devicesuch, for instance, as that shown in said prior patent above referred to. As hereinbefore stated, however, the employment of means for rocking the grate-bars is not essential as far as the present invention is concerned. When devices are employed for rocking the bars, however, the fuel placed upon the inclined grate is carried along or down over the grate-bars during the process of combustion through the rocking movement of the several grate-bars, as fully set forth in said prior patent.

The several grate-bars c c c, which more especially embody the present invention, are somewhat inclined upon their top surfaces in the same direction as the surface of the grate as a whole, but at a less inclination than that of the grate, so that the topsurfaces of the several bars form in effect a series of steps, the top surfaces of which, however, are inclined instead of being horizontal. In the upper part or body of each bar, above the depending flange 0 thereof, is formed a series of longitudinal and horizontal slots or openings 0 arranged parallel with the edges of the bar and extending from the outer or rear surface thereof through the inclined top surface of the grate .in a generally-horizontal direction, the rear or lower opening of the said slot or aperture being located at the junction of the depending flange with the body of the bar, so that the said aperture or opening extends from the rear or outer surface of the flange and over the top of the same to the supportingsurface of the grate-bar. The depending flange of each bare c c is also slotted, and the slots 0 therein are arranged horizontally opposite the openings or apertures 0 which are formed in the body of the bars, as above described. From this arrangement of the slots or openings in the webs or flanges it is obvious that, notwithstanding the fact that the flange of each grate-bar extends downwardly past the next adjacent grate-bar, said slots afford a means of inserting from the front of the grate a tool or implement which may be thrust through the slots 0 c for the purpose of stirring the fuel resting on the grate or removing clinkers from the surfaces of the gratebars. In the case of rocking grate bars, such as those shown, the slots or openings 0 are made wide enough to permit the insertion of the slicing-bar or other implement when the grate-bars are inclined, as well as when they are horizontal. For the same purpose the slots or apertures c are shown as made wider at the outer or rear surface of the gratebar than at the topor inclined surface thereof, so that the oscillatory movement of the grate will not prevent the insertion of a poker or other implement through said slots or apertures.

As herein shown, the flanges of the bars 0 c c are relatively narrow, the drawings showing them much narrower than those of the bars 0' c c, and said flanges contain but one set of slots or openings. It will be understood, however, that with deeper webs or flanges two sets of slots or openings may. be employed therein in the same manner as illustrated in connection with the said bars 0 c o, the number of slots or openings employed depending upon the vertical depth of the webs or flanges, which may be varied in number according to the length of the grate-bars and the strength or stiffness required therein.

The employment of the longitudinal slots IIO or apertures c has the advantage not only of affording access to the supporting-surface of the grate-bars from the front of the grate, but they admit of a better supply of air to support combustion and facilitate the cooling of the grate-bars, and thereby lessen the chances of the clinker becoming fused and adhering to the bars by the excessive heating or fusion of the metal composing the bars. It will of course be understood that the said slots or openings 0 0 enable the attendant to properly stir the fire by a hand implement and also, when necessary, to aid the downward movement of the fuel and clinker over the grate-bars toward the bottom of the grate.

The slots or openings 0 in the bars and also the slots 0 in the depending flanges of the bars are not shown as extending continuously the full length of the grate-bars; but intermediate connecting-pieces are present to connect the longitudinal parts of the bars and flanges with each other, so that the bar as a whole is made sufficiently strong and rigid. It is of course understood, however, that the'number and location of these connecting-pieces isimmaterial and that any construction may be employed adapted to give sufficient strength and rigidity to the bars. It is,furth ermore, unnecessary that each gratebar should be cast or formed in asingle piece, and bars may be constructed with suitable slots or openings of proper shape to produce the results herein described when made either of cast or wrought metal and when made in one or more parts or pieces.

It is obviously practicable to employ the novel construction above described in connection with grate-bars, which are also constructed to provide for the insertion of a slicing-bar or poker horizontally between the adjacent margins of the bar in the manner set forth in said prior application and as illustrated in the case of the bars 0' c c of Fig. 1. Such use of the presentimprovement is illustrated in Fig. 4, wherein grate-bars c c c are shown having horizontal slots or apertures 0 extending from front to rear and through the inclined upper surfaces of the grate-bars, as hereinbefore described, with slots 0 in the depending flanges, arranged horizontally opposite said openings 0 c and other intermediate slots or openings 0 0 arranged opposite the spaces between adjacent grate-bars to allow the insertion of a slicing-bar through said spaces, as well as through the said openings c Itwillbenotedthatthegrate-barsccc,(shown in Fig. 1 as embodying my improvement,) while arranged to overlap each other, in order to avoid leaving vertical spaces between the bars, are so constructed at their adjacent edges that the rear edges of the lower bars may be moved upwardly past the forward edges of the upper ones in the manner indicated in Fig. 5, which shows the changed position of said bars at the limit of their movement when rocked. The construction of the bars so that their adjacent edges may be moved past each other, as above indicated, is a desirable one for those parts of the grate at which the clinker is liable to form in a solid mass, inasmuch as the rocking of the bars in the manner described greatly facilitates the breaking up of fused masses of fuel or clinker which are liable to form over orin contact with the gratebars. It will of course be understood, however, that this particular construction in the bars is not essential in all cases where the bars are slotted or apertured in the manner herein described, inasmuch as eificient stoking may be accomplished and the clinker sufficiently broken up by the action of the slicing-bar or other tool inserted through said apertures or slots in the manner heretofore described. It will of course be understood that in the construction shown in Fig. 4: the breaking up of the clinker will be sufficiently accomplished by a tool inserted through the apertures in the grate-bars or through the spaces between the same, the bars in that case not being adapted to be rocked past each other at their adjacent edges.

It will be observed in connection with all of the forms of grate-bars herein shown and above described that practically no spaces are provided through which fuel may fall vertically through the grate, all of the spaces or slots through which the stoking or stirring of the fuel is accomplished being arranged horizontally, so that the ashes or particles of fuel which fall from the advance or lower edges of the bars or from the upper edges of the openings therein will be caught by and rest upon the horizontal surfaces below said edges. This construction is especiallyimportant in the use of slack or fine coal for fuel. illustrated in the drawings, for instance, is

more especially intended for slack coal, and

for this reason more especially are the upper bars 0' c c of the grate made horizontal and overlapping in the manner shown. The utility of this construction will be rendered obvious when it is understood that the fuel is first heated and coked while resting upon the upper grate-bars c'c'c, which, as will be clearly seen from the drawings, are so constructed as to prevent any part of the finest fuel from falling through the same. After the fuel is coked, however, it loses its pulverulent character and the particles are partially fused and adhere together, so that in passing downwardly over the grate they are not liable to fall through the spaces between the lower grate-bars c c 0, except as it may escape in small quantities in the. form of ashes. The lower grate-bars c c 0, while not being arranged to overlap so as to prevent possibility of the escape of fine or granular fuel between them, are close enough together to practically obviate liability of the downward escape of the burning pieces or particles of fuel, while the openings through said bars, being practically horizontal, afford no means for such downward escape of the fuel. It will of course be understood, however, that in grates adapted for burning some kinds of fuel all of the bars may The grate I'Io be made like the bars 0 c c of Fig. 1, or part or flanges being provided with longitudinal of the grate may be formed of bars of this slots or openings arranged opposite said slots kind and a part of the grate of bars of a kind or openings in the grate-bars, snbstantiallyas unlike any herein shown. described. 15 5 I claim as my invention In testimony that I claim the foregoing as An inclined grate consisting of horizontallymy invention I affiX my signaturein presence, arranged grate-bars having inclined top surof two witnesses.

faces and depending Webs or flanges, said WILLIAM R. RONEY.

grate-bars having openings or slots extending WVitnesses: [o horizontally from'their inclined faces to their C. CLARENCE POOLE,

rearoroutersurfaces, and the depending webs IRVINE MILLER. 

